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The Best Mobile Network Revealed

Who is the best mobile network platform for users in the UK?

Researchers at Rootmetricshave completed a series of experiments to find the highest performing network in the UK.

To determine the result, the study performed a total of 646,230 tests, covering over 21,562 miles. Performance was also measured on roadways and public transport in big cities, small towns and rural areas to provide a real-word examination that provided accurate and unbiased results.

The verdict:

o2

Overall network performance: 87.3%

The o2 network suffered a poor result in comparison with Vodafone, Three and EE, ranking fourth in the network reliability, network speed and data performance categories. This poor scoring has been consistent over recent years. However, the researchers note some improvements, pointing to how “the gaps in the scoring between O2 and the leaders were smaller than they were in second-half 2016 testing in the categories of overall performance and network reliability, as well as in data, call, and text performance.”

Vodafone

Overall network performance: 90.2%

Vodafone has showed rapid improvement, even since the second half of 2016. The network shared the UK call and Text RootScore Awards and finished second in network reliability and network speed.

“Vodafone has continued to invest heavily in expanding its 4G service across the UK, and the operator’s efforts could soon pave the way for further improvements to follow.”

Three

Overall network performance: 90.8%

Similarly to Vodafone, Three’s story “has been one of improvement.” Contrasting with their performance in 2016, the network come first for it’s call performance, even winning a Network Reliability Rootscore.

“Perhaps most impressive of all is that Three delivered such strong results despite having the smallest 4G footprint of any operator in the UK. If Three expands its 4G services, the operator’s results in metro area, nation, and UK-wide testing could become even better.”

EE

Overall network performance: 91.3%

Despite the success of both Vodafone and Three, it was EE who came out on top, again. “Impressively, EE has now won the UK Overall RootScore Award outright eight consecutive times, dating back to when we began testing the entirety of the UK in the second half of 2013.”

The network performed particularly well in the categories of overall performance, network speed, data performance and text performance.

The study did note the network’s decline in network reliability and call performance, but pointed to their large-scale deployment of VOLTE (4G calling) across the UK as one of the main causes of this, noting how common it can be for “…a mobile network operator’s call performance to experience a short-term decline during the introduction of a new service like VoLTE.”

With this in mind, EE’s performance is expected to strengthen throughout the second half of 2017.

“…we expect EE’s performances in multiple categories to ultimately improve at the UK-wide, metro area, and nation levels as its VoLTE roll-out gains maturity. EE’s users should experience faster call setup times, better voice quality, and strong call and reliability performances in general in the relatively near future.”

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